Trader Joe's Greek Style Chicken Salad

Now before we get started looking at Trader Joe's Greek Style Chicken Salad, we have to remember the ghosts of chicken salads past and put this all in perspective. Trader Joe's was once home to the two best chicken salads I've ever had: Trader Joe's Curried White Chicken Deli Salad and Trader Joe's Wine Country Chicken Salad, neither of which I've seen in quite a while. At some point, the curried chicken salad underwent a repackaging and renaming and became a slightly different product called simply Trader Joe's Curry Chicken Salad. I'm told it wasn't even close to that aforementioned Curried White Chicken Deli Salad, though I did not sample that version of it and can not provide confirmation of those allegations.

Likewise, at least one report came in years after the fact that the Wine Country Chicken Salad underwent a similar disappointing change near the end of its life cycle at Trader Joe's. Basically what I'm saying is that I've never had chicken salad that good before or since. I'm not saying those selections were healthy in any way. On the contrary, they packed a surprising amount of fat and calories for a food that's often thought of as light and reasonably healthy—particularly the curried offering. But my goodness, if they weren't delicious...

Anyhoo, this is one of the few chicken salad offerings that's caught our eye in recent years and we're here to tell you it's tasty, but it's not exactly the Homer's Odyssey of the chicken salad world. There's plenty of good and plenty of meh and if you want the nitty gritty, please read on.

What's working? There's a fair amount of quality white meat chicken, though the chunks could be bigger. They're more like wispy shreds of chicken as it stands. There's a nice salty vibe throughout the mix, though it's not over-the-top briny or thirst inducing. The spice blend including onions, garlic, parsley, black pepper, and dill provides a nice Greek undertone. The olives and artichoke hearts add a pleasant touch providing some hearty veggies and tender, meaty earthiness.

The sundried tomatoes are about the only element Sonia and I are split on. I found them to be too big, too intrusive, and a tad too chewy, while Sonia thought they worked just fine. She's far more into tomato than I am, although I can throw down with sundried tomatoes in some contexts.

Still, we both found the product lacking that WOW factor. We both wanted feta cheese. Who makes a Greek chicken salad without feta? A few crumbles of the delectable Mediterranean brined curd cheese might have pushed this product over the top into greatness. As it stands, it's worth a try but not legendary.

$5.49 for the 10 oz tub, found near the refrigerated salads, cheeses, and hummus type things. Might buy again. Seven and a half stars from the beautiful wifey for Trader Joe's Greek Style Chicken Salad. I think I'll follow suit.

Bottom line: 7.5 out of 10.

Trader Joe's Root Beer Float Bars

Sonia and I are 100% in agreement that Trader Joe's Root Beer Float Bars are a better summer buy than the recently-reviewed Trader Joe's Root Beer Float Pieces. These are cold. They provide more refreshment. Their taste is closer to that of an actual root beer float. The candy pieces melt in the heat. They're a tad too sweet. They don't taste quite enough like root beer.

The only point I'll give to the root beer pieces that I can't give to these popsicles is the novel presence of popping candies. The cookie chunks fizz like real soda. I kinda wish they'd put Pop Rocks or whatever we're calling them in these fun frozen treats. Sonia disagrees. She hates fun.

Just kidding. She's a girl and girls just wanna have fun, after all. I guess we just differ on what constitutes fun occasionally. For example, I love roller coasters. I think they're a blast and a half. Sonia? Not so much. She'll get on a kiddie coaster once in a while but she's terrified of the big rides. Okay, now I'm getting off track.

Back to the popsicles. I mean, these aren't just popsicles. They're also ice cream bars. They're the best of both worlds. Vanilla ice cream on a stick surrounded by frozen root beer. That's a fun idea. That idea's so summery, it should be illegal to keep these in your freezer and consume them in any season but summer. That's why TJ's takes them away come fall time. The root beer pieces go away around then, too, but they don't seem as summery to me.

Usually I'm cursing at Trader Joe for making half his inventory seasonal, but with these, it makes sense. There's a nice balance of sweet, earthy root beer and creamy vanilla bliss. The first bite kinda tastes more like root beer but once you get further down the bar, it seems like there's a plethora of vanilla ice cream.

$3.79 for six bars. Kosher. Found in the frozen section, duh. We'd buy these again next summer for sure—or maybe even on our next TJ run. But there's probably too many other new treats to try to make room in our freezer bags for these. I dunno. We'll see. Eight and a half stars from the beautiful wifey for Trader Joe's Root Beer Float Bars. I'll go with eight out of ten on this one.

Bottom line: 8.25 out of 10.

Trader Joe's Root Beer Float Pieces

There's just something about a root beer float that screams summertime. You've got the earthy bite of the root beer, the sweet vanilla cream, and the fizz of the soda. They all come together for such a great flavor that's cold and refreshing. And why root beer? I mean, cola floats work just fine. I think it's the way the root beer and ice cream interact to create such a fluffy head of foam. Can a solid piece of candy possibly capture the magic of a real root beer float?

Trader Joe's Root Beer Float Pieces will run you $3.79, and I must admit they're fun and unique. They've got a vanilla cream sandwich cookie for a base which is covered in a root beer flavored confectionery coating. Plot twist: there are Pop Rocks to add fizz, just like actual root beer. Okay, it's "popping candy." But we all know who made popping candy famous.

The vanilla cream in the center is cloyingly sweet. And it's topped with cookie which is topped with more sweet candy. It's a bit over the top in terms of sugary sweetness if you ask me. Part of the brilliance of a root beer float is the balance of flavors. There's definitely some root beer taste in these candies, but the cookie part of the equation overshadows it by a good margin.

Sonia and I like Trader Joe's Root Beer Float Bars popsicles significantly better than these dry candies. Their flavor is much closer to that of a traditional root beer float and the refreshment factor is head and shoulders higher than these sticky sweet candy pieces. These root beer bites definitely have their fanbase—plenty of rave reviews out there if you go looking for them. We'll put 'em solidly in "not bad" territory. The beautiful wifey gives Trader Joe's Root Beer Float Pieces seven and a half out of ten stars. I'll throw out seven out of ten.

Bottom line: 7.25 out of 10.

Trader Joe's Flakes & Strawberries Cereal

It's true that some TJ's products can vary from batch to batch, but my goodness, if our box of Trader Joe's Flakes & Strawberries Cereal was anywhere close to average, then they seriously need to change the photo on the cover of the package. It's straight up misleading to show a bowl of flakes with about eight or nine freeze dried strawberry slices sitting right on top when in reality there are only two or three per bowl, on average.

Sonia's first bowl had none. Zip. Zero. Nada. Zilch. We dug through the bag and manually added some strawberries we found on down the way. Even if you divvy up the berries so there's one in each of your first bites, there are still way more bites with nothing but flakes left over at the end.

In fairness, the flakes aren't bad in and of themselves. They have a nice crunch. They don't get soggy too quickly. We like the wheat and rice blend. They're lightly sweet. Not bad, not bad.

But if we wanted plain flakes, we'd have purchased plain cereal. We're hunting for strawberries here. Enter: Trader Joe's Freeze Dried Strawberries to save the day. I think the price went up on the berries since we published that review, but it's still a very decent product—along with its blueberry counterpart.

The freeze dried strawberries product appears to be the exact same commodity that we find sparsely distributed throughout the cereal. They're thin slices of brittle strawberry, mostly good quality. Same color. Same texture. Same good sweet-tart flavor.

After adding a whole bunch of the extra strawberry pieces, the cereal went from zero to hero. We easily finished our bowls, and a couple days later, the bag. Of course, you could always add fresh strawberries. That would work, too. I mean, you can always dress things up to suit your taste, but when the title of the product advertises strawberries, we're expecting a decent amount of strawberries to already be in the cereal.

$2.99 for the 11.7 oz box. Kosher. Product of Canada. Sonia would like to point out that although we're being a tad critical of this product, it's still better than Special K with Red Berries. Fair enough. Still, we probably wouldn't pick up Trader Joe's Flakes & Strawberries Cereal again for lack of freeze dried berries. Six and a half stars from Sonia. Five and a half stars from me.

Bottom line: 6 out of 10.

Trader Joe's Red, White & Blue Cookie Bites

Decades ago, my father was a tour guide at Independence Hall in Philadelphia. He often remembered the bicentennial year—just a few years before I was born—in 1976. He recalled it as a year-long celebration that saw a huge rise in tourism in Philly. People seemed more interested in US history and the birth of our nation. There were reenactments, parties, fireworks displays, and festivities of all kinds. A few times he'd remarked to me as a child: "Well, you'll be around for the 250th anniversary of our country." And here I am.

We won't be attending any major Fourth of July events this year, but 7/4/26 has been a date planted in my psyche for a very long time now. As far as festivities go, Sonia and I will keep things simple but fun. I mean, we have napkins and plates with red, white, and blue stars. And thanks to Trader Joe's, we have these super duper patriotic cookie bites.

Those of you who've been reading for a while now understand it takes a really special cookie to get a glowing review on this blog. That's not what's going to happen here, unfortunately, but hey I'm down with the fun red, white, and blue theme and there's at least some uniqueness going on here, so let's get down to brass tacks, shall we?

Trader Joe's Red, White & Blue Cookie Bites are tiny balls of crunchy vanilla cookie surrounded by fruit-flavored candy coatings. The red flavor tastes like cherry and the tub is mostly that red flavor for some reason. I think it represents courage, valor, and sacrifice. Or maybe it just stands for cherry. I like the flavor okay, but there is a bit of that cough syrup vibe.

The blue flavor is blueberry-esque. I like it a tad better than its crimson counterpart. Also justice, vigilance, and perseverance are admirable qualities. Go USA.

The white flavor tastes like lemon to me. It's the best of all and there were like five in the entire gigantic tub. Apparently Trader Joe doesn't believe in purity and innocence. I'm kidding. Or am I?

It's going to be hot this Fourth of July, and the candy coating on these cookie bites is going to melt if you take them to a barbecue or outdoor party or something. So...I wish we had like some Trader Joe's Bomb Pops or some other frozen America-themed treat to review today, but I guess you can always do something indoors...in the air conditioning...and hope these vaguely snackable cookies stay solid long enough to try one of each flavor before you say "meh" and hand the tub to the kids.

Should I even score this one? I mean they're not bad. It's just...they're not great either. Someone commented on our YouTube channel "This guy should not be allowed to review cookies." Maybe that's true. I am terribly jaded when it comes to cookies. We've literally reviewed over a hundred types of Trader Joe's brand cookies. Maybe I should refrain from posting negative cookie reviews because normal folks seem to be fond of every cookie that TJ's puts out. Leave your own personal score for these cookies in the comments. Let's just do it that way.

Five bucks for the ten ounce tub. Kosher. Personally, I wouldn't buy Trader Joe's Red, White & Blue Cookie Bites again. Have a great Fourth of July weekend, everybody. Stay safe out there.

Bottom line: America turns 250 years old this weekend and these are red, white, and blue cookie bites.

Trader Joe's Smoked Steelhead Trout

Looks like we've got another product of Norway here. Apparently Erling Haaland and his teammates have been importing tons of food from their homeland during the World Cup. If only someone had told him about Trader Joe's. He and his Nordic football buddies could have tried this steelhead trout with Trader Joe's Lefse Norwegian Potato Flatbread. I'm sure that combo would have been stellar.

We actually kind of forgot we had Trader Joe's Smoked Steelhead Trout in the back of the fridge and remembered it just in the nick of time. We rediscovered the package on its best by date and quickly downed the entire thing so we didn't risk spoilage. So...no video review on this one, but here are a couple pics and our thoughts:

$5.49 gets you 4 oz of kosher Norwegian steelhead trout. It's a thick slab of smoked fish fillet, very rosy, resembling salmon. There is "color added" according to the ingredients. TJ usually throws us a bone and lets us in on the secret—they're pretty good at not using weird chemicals or dyes and you'll note something along the lines of "turmeric for color" but alas, no such luck with this product. Your guess is as good as mine as to where that pink-orange hue comes from.

Although I've only had legitimate sashimi a couple times in my life, I can confirm the claim on traderjoes.com that the texture of this product is indeed sashimi-esque. It's very much like a slab of raw fish in terms of firmness and mouthfeel, although this one has been smoked. In that sense, it's not unlike smoked salmon lox. In fact, our favorite way to enjoy it was served on toasted sourdough with some cream cheese and Trader Joe's Everything But the Bagel Seasoning.

Flavor-wise, it's a much milder taste than salmon. Sonia and I both love salmon because we like fish that tastes like fish, but every once in a while something a tad more delicate is in order. This is perfect if you don't like fishy fish. The smoke flavor is very apparent, though I wouldn't call it overpowering. It's savory, salty, and satisfying.

Although we wish it were packed in olive oil, Sonia and I both love Trader Joe's canned smoked trout product at least as much as this one. Still, this kosher fish fillet is a great buy if you're looking for a lunchy alternative to lox or salmon. We'll both throw out eight and a half stars for Trader Joe's Smoked Steelhead Trout.

Bottom line: 8.5 out of 10.

Trader Joe's Potato Cheese Sticks

Trader Joe's Potato Cheese Sticks look like something you'd find at a county fair right next to the funnel cakes and deep-fried Oreos. They're big, breaded sticks on wooden skewers, packed with potato and cheese, and just begging to be dunked into some sort of sauce.

Surprisingly, though, these aren't some Midwestern carnival creation. They're imported all the way from South Korea, where potato-coated cheese dogs and similar fried potato snacks are popular fare in Seoul and other cities. Leave it to Trader Joe's to bring Korean street food to suburban America's freezer aisles.

We cooked ours in the air fryer, which seemed like the obvious move. The outside got beautifully crisp and golden while the cheese inside turned into that glorious stretchy, stringy goodness that food photographers dream about. Between the potato coating and the mozzarella center, there's also a layer of starchy batter that holds everything together on the stick.

Flavor-wise, these are exactly what they sound like: fried potato and melty cheese. That's not a bad thing at all. In fact, it's downright tasty. The problem is that they're a little plain. After the initial excitement of pulling apart those epic cheese strings, we found ourselves wishing for just a bit more seasoning and personality.

Trader Joe's suggests serving them with ketchup or honey mustard. Sonia and I looked at each other and immediately decided neither option sounded particularly appealing. Instead, we asked ChatGPT for a dipping sauce recipe involving gochujang. It had us mix mayo, rice vinegar, and honey with the spicy pepper paste. The result was creamy, tangy, sweet, and just spicy enough to wake these sticks up. It turned out to be an excellent pairing and added the extra flavor dimension we felt the product needed.

Would we buy them again? Absolutely. They're fun, they're different, and they're satisfyingly cheesy. Sonia was more enthusiastic than I was, though. The beautiful wifey throws out an ardent eight and a half stars. I'll go with a respectable seven and a half.

Trader Joe's Potato Cheese Sticks are crispy, cheesy, Korean-inspired comfort food on a stick. They'll run you $4.99 for four individually-wrapped servings, found in the frozen section. They're a little tame on their own, but with the right sauce and beverage pairings they're a snack worth revisiting.

Bottom line: 8 out of 10.

Trader Joe's Whipped Strawberry Cream Cheese

We've already reviewed this product on video, so I guess it's time to get a written review up here on the blog. It's a whipped cream cheese with strawberry flavor, found in the refrigerated section of TJ's, and it'll run you $2.79. Most name brand cream cheese costs significantly more than that, so we're already looking at a pretty decent value.

The texture is fairly standard as far as whipped cream cheeses tend to go. Trader Joe's Whipped Strawberry Cream Cheese is light and fluffy and super easy to spread. We had ours with Trader Joe's Strawberry Brioche Style Liège Waffles. I kind of expected both products to be tasty but not necessarily bursting with strawberry flavor.

Lo and behold, I was right. That's really my only complaint about this product. It could be more strawberry-ish. If it's too difficult to load the product up with strawberry bits or strawberry puree, one would think freeze-dried strawberry would do the trick. Far from strawberry overload, the strawberry waffle/strawberry cream cheese combo yielded a perfectly adequate level of strawberry scrumptiousness.

Of course, we did try the cream cheese with plain sourdough toast. It's nice. It gets a thumbs up. But there's only a whisper of the fruit flavor.

The sweetness level is pleasant and restrained. Some fruit-flavored cream cheeses lean heavily into the dessert category, but this one manages to stay firmly in breakfast-spread territory. It's creamy, mildly tangy, and just sweet enough to keep things interesting without tasting artificial or candy-like. In that sense, Trader Joe's got the balance right. I just wish they'd turned the strawberry dial up a notch or two.

As it stands, the texture is on point and the flavor is there, but you'll probably find yourself searching for strawberry more than savoring it. Still, for less than three bucks, it's an easy way to add a little something extra to your morning toast, bagel, waffle, or whatever carb delivery system happens to be on the menu. Kosher. Found in the refrigerated section. Eight out of ten stars from Sonia on Trader Joe's Whipped Strawberry Cream Cheese Spread. I'll go with seven out of ten.

Bottom line: 7.5 out of 10.

Trader Joe's Surimi Imitation Crabmeat

Trader Joe's Surimi is one of the best imitation crab meats I've ever had. It's made with top-shelf Alaskan pollock fish, it's lightly sweet, and the texture is on point. Like your typical "krab," it's got those pinkish edges that resemble real cooked crab fresh out of the shell, and the rest of it is beautiful unblemished white fish.

The product is only four bucks for 12 oz, and it comes in a resealable bag. Our best by date was a full month and some change after the day we bought it. Of course, it's been in the fridge the whole time, but that's very convenient to be able to keep it that long.

It's perfectly edible straight from the bag, but we did find a recipe online that we wanted to try out. I guess we'll give ChatGPT the credit for this one. It's simply chopped cucumbers, Kewpie brand mayonnaise, lemon juice, and Trader Joe's Everything But the Bagel Seasoning. Stir it all together, and you can serve it in the manner of a "tartine" open-faced sandwich or as part of a snack bowl with crackers and veggies.

We opted for the former selection and ate ours with sourdough toast on camera for our illustrious YouTube channel. Although Sonia intended to make some ceviche with the remainder of our surimi, she actually wound up making another batch of that same crab salad—this time with less EBtB and more lemon juice and mayo. The second batch was even better than the first. In an attempt to drive some of our YouTube viewers to this written blog, I did promise to share Sonia's ceviche recipe on here, so...for you folks, here it is. Enjoy.

There are zero grams of fat in this surimi, but it packs eight grams of protein per serving. The pink dye comes from tomato lycopene, a natural pigment with antioxidant properties. There's a bit of sea salt in the ingredients, but honestly, the sodium isn't even that bad. Added sugar? Sure. But it's not excessive. From a health perspective, this is one of the better offerings from TJ's we've reviewed in quite a while.

This product gets a solid thumbs up from us. As far as seafood goes, Trader Joe's Surimi Imitation Crabmeat is convenient and tasty. It's not quite as fancy or sumptuous as the recently reviewed Black Cod Sablefish or the Patagonian Scallops but we would definitely buy this product again. $3.99, found in the refrigerated section. Eight out of ten stars from me. Eight and a half out of ten stars from the beautiful wifey.

Bottom line: 8.25 out of 10.

Trader Joe's Chocolate Croissants

Four bucks gets you two pre-baked croissants in a cellophane wrapper. I emphasize "pre-baked" because most of the other croissants we've seen from Trader Joe's not only require you to bake the pastry yourself, but they also need to be proofed for up to 12 hours prior to going in the oven. See:

Trader Joe's Double Chocolate Croissants

Trader Joe's 4 Almond Croissants

Trader Joe's 4 Pumpkin Croissants

That's a plus. You don't have to wait a ridiculously long time to eat Trader Joe's Chocolate Croissants. You can have them straight from the package or you can heat them up a bit. But I mean, those previous croissant products were all delicious. I'm telling you they might be the best croissants I've ever had in my life. So these pre-packaged traditional all-butter croissants have their work cut out for them.

And unfortunately, they simply don't hold up to the high standard we've come to expect from Trader Joe's croissants. The bread is good. Flaky, buttery, and airy, the bread tastes fine. But by that same token, it's nowhere near as good as the bread on those other croissants. It might not be fair to compare something that's fresh from the oven to something that's been sitting on a shelf for a few days. But even heated up for a spell, the texture simply can't compete with the croissants you proof and bake yourself.

And the filling? The filling is even worse. Look at that picture. There's barely any chocolate in there. At four bucks, these two croissants didn't exactly break the bank, but I feel totally ripped off. You can barely call these "chocolate" croissants. The aforementioned Double Chocolate Croissants were absolutely bursting at the seams with chocolate flavor.

In true Sonia fashion, she'll be extremely merciful with her scoring, focusing on the convenience and decent buttery bread. The lack of chocolate is really her only complaint. And I must admit I grumbled and moaned about the excessively lengthy proofing and baking process involved with those previous croissant products, but now I see why it's necessary. Good things come to those who wait. So much quality is sacrificed on the altar of convenience with Trader Joe's Chocolate Croissants, and the lack of chocolate filling is just a slap in the face. Would not buy these again.

Sonia's score: 7 out of 10 stars.

Nathan's score: 5 out of 10 stars.

Trader Joe's Hot Honey Popcorn

Hot honey. So hot right now. Sometimes Trader Joe calls it Spicy Honey. Whatever butters your biscuit—or in this case, popcorn.

And this popcorn is indeed buttery. It's almost reminiscent of movie theater popcorn. It's bright yellow like butter. Yet it's sweet like kettle corn. Plus, there's a whisper of spicy heat.

Those of you who know Sonia and me probably know we're looking for more than a whisper when it comes to spice. We don't want masochistic mouth-searing heat just for heat's sake. We want a flavorful peppery punch. There is some cayenne listed in the ingredients, but it's pretty low. Too low by our standards. If the name of your product puts "hot" in the headline, then you gotta at least clear our sinuses a bit. Them's the rules.

We thought about adding some of the aforementioned Trader Joe's Spicy Honey but decided against it due to the obvious mess it would create. We could always sprinkle the popcorn with sriracha powder or extra cayenne pepper, but we just decided to enjoy it as is despite us pining for more picante piquancy.

If you're looking for sweet, buttery kettle corn with a hint of heat, look no further. Although, I must say I wish the popcorn tasted a bit more like actual honey. It does contain some "honey powder" but sugar is much higher on the list. Again, maybe actual honey might have rendered such a sticky snack that no amount of Wet Ones could ever sate the sappy syrup from your skin. Maybe if honey powder were higher on the list..?

In the end it's a decent snack even if it doesn't taste just like spicy honey. We've already polished off the majority of the bag. Three bucks. Kosher. Kind of addictive but could be more so if it truly lived up to its name. Eight out of ten stars from the beautiful wifey. Seven and a half stars from me. Would buy again.

Bottom line: 7.75 out of 10.

Trader Joe's Passion Fruit Meringue Tartelettes

$5.49 gets you two passion fruit meringue tarts imported from France. I guess "tartelette" is the French word for "little tart," but I mean honestly, they're not all that small if we're talking single serving desserts.

Super easy. Thaw Trader Joe's Passion Fruit Meringue Tartelettes for two hours in the fridge and you've got some world-class desserts ready to serve. Sonia and I shared just one of the tarts during the recording of our video review, and we were both plenty satisfied. We did share the second one later in the day. We knew they wouldn't last long even if we were attempting to exercise self-control.

Because these are simply scrumptious. The crust is buttery and dense, sweet, and bready. It's a little hard to cut through with a fork if it's not completely thawed, but once you start chewing it, it simply melts in your mouth.

The filling is at least as good, flaunting a sweet-tart tropical flavor that's unique and enjoyable. We love that passion fruit puree is the number one ingredient, and it absolutely comes through in the tangy taste. The meringue on top is smooth and eggy. It adds a bit of deliciousness to the flavor profile, but we think it's there more for presentation than anything else.

And I mean, the presentation is absolutely stellar. Considering this product has traveled all the way from France, and then from Trader Joe's all the way to our house, these tarts are very pretty. They both look and taste like they came fresh from a professional French bakery.

Sonia will go with nine out of ten stars on Trader Joe's Passion Fruit Meringue Tartelettes, found in the frozen section. Limited time only. I'll give these little tarts eight and a half stars, making these desserts a near-miss for our best-of-the-best category. We'd definitely buy these again.

Bottom line: 8.75 out of 10.

Trader Joe's 3 Cheese Spinach & Artichoke Pasta

Just look at that box. Not particularly fancy. I mean, it's a nice shot of the product. In fact, the product photo on the box is much nicer than our prepared pasta looked IRL. But there's not much in the way of fancy designs or bold colors. No cartoon characters or vintage Victorian illustrations. It's as if to say "this product is what it is."

And what is Trader Joe's 3 Cheese Spinach & Artichoke Pasta? It's a single large serving of pasta that'll run you $3.79. Unfortunately, it's not as tasty as it looks. I mean, it's not terrible either. Yes, this is going to be one of those well-balanced reviews that people disdain. The kind where people used to pile in the comments section with statements like "I totally disagree with your review" and you can't even tell whether that means they hated the product or loved it.

The preparation instructions do offer a microwave option, but we went with the conventional oven in this case. It says heat from frozen at 375° for 20 minutes. The core of the dish wasn't even close to the proper serving temp after 20 minutes, so we left it in for an additional five and that did the trick.

The pasta came out a bit limp and soggy. We got an odd bite or two with stringy artichoke, but other than that the texture was fine. Sonia pointed out that the cheese felt more like a thin sauce than actual melted cheese. The mozzarella, parmesan, and Swiss yielded a pleasant, mild flavor that got the job done, but there was an abundance of citrusy lemon in the mix that overshadowed most everything else.

Visually, the spinach appeared to be well-represented, but it didn't impact the flavor as much as we'd hoped. There were only a few bites where I noticed artichoke, and the texture of the vegetable was stringy and overly chewy. Still, the vast majority of the dish was just soft pasta and a velveteen coating of cheeses.

Trader Joe's 3 Cheese Spinach & Artichoke Pasta was enough for both Sonia and me for lunch one day this past week. It says one serving, but it was more than adequate for two in our case. It could easily act as a side dish for four or more people if you've got another entree to serve. Honestly, it's a pretty decent value for $3.79 considering many microwave meals will run you upwards of $5 these days and most are less impressive than this offering.

This is the kind of thing I would have stocked up on in my college days in an effort to save money. I'd stretch each one to two meals and have a bit of salad on the side. Lunch for less than two bucks is hard to come by these days. Seven out of ten stars from the beautiful wifey. Six and a half out of ten stars from me.

Bottom line: 6.75 out of 10.

Trader Joe's Almond Flour Tortillas

Trader Joe's Almond Flour Tortillas will run you $3.69 for 6 gluten free, vegan, and kosher tortillas. Of course, Trader Joe's Corn Tortillas are also gluten free, vegan, and kosher, and they're the way to go if you're looking for an old-school experience that's probably more authentic in terms of Mexican cuisine. Watch out for the mold on those corn tortillas, though. They don't last long once they're opened.

We found these almond flour tortillas were quite edible past their best by date. No mold. No additional stiffness, though I must point out that they're somewhat stiff to begin with. I think that's just the nature of the almond flour. There's a slight rigidness to these tortillas that you don't really have with corn tortillas or even wheat flour tortillas. It's a tad off-putting to me.

Sonia didn't seem to mind the texture much. She happily ate them with her salsa de queso. We made a few other things with them after the salsa de queso was gone. They're perfectly adequate for any kind of taco.

Flavor-wise, there might be a hint of nuttiness, but you really wouldn't guess they were made with almonds in a blind taste test. They do approximate the flavor of traditional flour tortillas pretty well. The beautiful wifey is definitely a fan of the flavor here, and when it comes to tortillas, she knows her stuff.

I just can't envision many situations that would call for almond flour tortillas. As mentioned above, if you're avoiding gluten, I'd stick to corn tortillas, but that's just me—and these are significantly more expensive. I suppose some folks might have sensitivities to both wheat gluten and corn. I'll let the beautiful wifey score this one since she's the expert. She gives Trader Joe's Almond Flour Tortillas seven and a half out of ten stars.

Bottom line: 7.5 out of 10.

Trader Joe's Strawberry Brioche Liège Waffles

As you might have guessed, these breakfast treats are comparable to the previous Liege waffle offerings from Trader Joe's in terms of price, size, texture, and packaging. We're looking at $4.99 for six individually-wrapped Belgian waffles. And yes, they are actually imported from Belgium.

The original Brioche Style Liege Waffles are still my favorite just because they're a tad more versatile than these or their maple-flavored counterparts. We weren't able to get our hands on the pumpkin spice variety last fall, but we'll make another attempt come September, provided they return again this year.

These Liege waffles do have tiny specks of strawberry throughout their bready Belgian brioche-style bodies. It's actually "apple strawberry pieces," whatever those are. There's also some strawberry puree in the mix. And yes, many of you know exactly what's coming: a complaint. They still don't taste enough like strawberry.

I want strawberry chunks in the next one. I want just a whisper of bread with my strawberry puree. I want big berry boldness. I want the berry flavor to knock my socks off. And that's not what this does. It just whispers "strawberry" softly...like a distant melody on the wind...being played by a middle school band...in the next town over.

Maybe I exaggerate. It'll be strawberryish enough for many folks. It's certainly strawberryish enough when paired with Trader Joe's Whipped Strawberry Cream Cheese Spread although that product isn't exactly strawberry overload just on its own, either. But hey, in terms of convenience and value, we've got another winner on our hands.

Sonia and I would both purchase Trader Joe's Brioche Style Strawberry Liege Waffles again. Like their predecessors, they're perfectly edible straight out of the wrappers, but they shine even more when toasted and topped with butter and/or strawberry cream cheese. Eight out of ten stars from the beautiful wifey. Seven and a half out of ten stars from yours truly.

Bottom line: 7.75 out of 10.